


Stretched to Breaking

by inatrice



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining Shiro (Voltron), this happens like immediately after s4e6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-16
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-18 03:45:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12380211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inatrice/pseuds/inatrice
Summary: Once Shiro finds out what Keith almost did, everything just goes to pieces.





	Stretched to Breaking

**Author's Note:**

> Have another fic written in a fit of overwhelmed emotions. Season 4 was such a ride. This was partially inspired by all the good good art that's been posted, especially [this one](https://juno8482.tumblr.com/post/166441739049/keith-has-no-clue-how-much-he-means-for-shiro) by juno8482.  
> This is unbetaed. Basically written and posted while in tears, so all mistakes are mine.  
> I'm a wreck bye.

He'd heard it from Matt. Well, they all had. Everyone was still visibly shaken as they regrouped at the Castle of Lions. Relieved hugs had been shared by them all, Pidge and Matt clinging to each other as they tried to shake off the thought of losing each other again so soon after being found. Keith had broken off first, as he was wont to do, especially lately. Matt had watched him go, closing his eyes once the door had shut behind him.

"I can't believe he almost did that." He'd said, voice quiet and chilled.

Shiro's eyes had turned to Matt immediately, seeking an explanation.

_Sacrificed himself._

Shiro's feet pounded on the metal floor of the castle, running to the younger man. He couldn't do this. He couldn't stand this anymore. He rounded a corner and saw Keith's form down the hall.

"Keith!" He shouted breathlessly. He couldn't help it.

Keith flinched first, the motion like a punch to Shiro's heart, and when he tuned there was a guilty look on his face. It was similar to the one he'd worn the day he left. Keith knew he had let someone down and it was eating away at him. It only pushed Shiro forward faster.

Shiro didn't even slow down. Keith's stance widened when he realized that Shiro was just going to barrel straight into him. They caught each other, bodies colliding like two black holes, centers of galaxies that danced around the other, finally coming back together.

"Keith…." It was whispered this time. The only thing Shiro could manage to get out.

"Shiro." Keith whispered back, shoving his face farther into Shiro's shoulder. "I…." He broke off as Shiro hugged him tighter, not stopping until Keith's spine popped and he was gasping for air.

Finally, Shiro held him at arm's length, hands gripping tightly at his shoulders. He raked his eyes over the younger man, drinking in every detail he was sure he'd missed in the last few months. He'd been selfishly blinded, too caught up in himself to see that Keith had been struggling just as much as he had. "What were you thinking?" He asked finally.

Keith's lips twitched downward, brows knitting together with untapped emotion. "The mission is greater than the individual, Shiro." And God, he could hear Kolivan echoing in Keith's voice. "I'm a Blade now. It's a reality."

Shiro's head was shaking before he even fully processed what Keith was saying. "Don't talk like that." He whispered fiercely, eyes stinging already. "You're still a part of Team Voltron. That hasn't changed, Keith."

Keith's eyes slammed shut and he tried to twist out of Shiro's grasp, but Shiro just held him tighter. He'd been too lax, too willing to let Keith slip away, and he wasn't going to let it happen again. Keith's head ducked lower and he stopped fighting. "So many things have changed, Shiro. I found my true place amongst the Blades now that you're the Black Paladin again."

Shiro could only watch him as he spoke. Tears slipped down his scarred cheeks as an icy fire of realization burned through his blood stream.

"Voltron has the leader they've always deserved in you. All the Lions are spoken for." Keith shook his head and took a breath. "I was never suited to be in the lime light, Shiro. I could never have done any of those shows, the diplomacy. I work better in the shadows with the Blades." His arms hung limply at his sides. "They have their mission and it will always come first, and now even Voltron can go on without me. The _universe_ would have been lost if you guys hadn't made it out of there. The least I could do was give something as small as my life to save it."

Shiro brought his hands up to cup the sides of Keith's face, bringing his gaze up so that their eyes could meet. Keith's brows furrowed again and Shiro's name fell from his confused lips when he saw the tears. With only a breath of hesitation, Shiro leaned forward and pressed his lips to Keith's forehead. His heart should have been racing at the even the thought, but he was beyond caring at this point. He was torn and frayed, twine splitting and threatening to snap. And Keith didn't even realize he was what kept those last threads from breaking. "Stop," Shiro forced out, shaking his head again. "Please, you can't say that."

Keith growled. His hands came up and shoved himself out of Shiro's grasp. "I'll say it if it's true, Shiro!" He spat, eyes glittering in the dim lights of the Castle's hallway. "You've gotten everything back! I made sure you did! You have Black, you have Voltron, you have _adoring fans_ and a coalition that's willing to fight with you!" He scrubbed a hand over his eyes, refusing to let a single tear fall.

"I don't have everything back!" Shiro cried, his hands balling into fists. He could feel his knees weakening and part of him just wanted to fall. "I don't have _you_."

Keith's eyes narrowed, his stance turning defensive. "What are you talking about, Shiro? I'm right here."

"You're not." Shiro huffed, voice on the edge of cracking. "Ever since I came back. You've been pulling away from us. Pulling away from _me_. You haven't been this far away from me in years."

"I had to." Keith ground out. He looked back to the floor, refusing to meet Shiro's eye. "I had to so you could be where you needed to be. Where I know you're supposed to be." He paused again, head dipping forward so that his bangs hung off of his face. "If I have to distance myself for the universe then that's what I'll do."

"You don't get it, do you?" Shiro breathed. His entire body was quaking. He could feel as a few more threads broke.

"What?" Keith cried, head rising again, voice raw. His eyes were wet and red rimmed and Shiro's heart broke just a little bit more. "What don't I get, Shiro?"

"I don't have a universe without you." Shiro told him as a fresh wave of hot tears spilled onto his cheeks. It should have been screamed from a mountain top. It should have been accompanied with a smile and the warmth of a body next to his. He never meant for these words to be said like this, shattered to pieces by the very forces that had conjured them up in the first place. This time, he let his knees give out and he fell to the floor. "The universe isn't worth saving if you aren't in it with me."

Keith froze. He stared at Shiro, unblinking. A single tear fell from his right eye. His mouth opened and closed a few times before any sound came out. "But…the missi-"

"I love you, Keith." Shiro blurted. He couldn't let Keith finish that thought. Not when even he wasn't sure where exactly he stood on that issue. "Don't make me do this without you." His gaze finally fell away from the younger man, unable to bear it any longer. He could feel the very last threads tearing. "Please."

Shiro didn't hear Keith approach, but he gasped when a second set of knees crashed to the floor in front of him. He almost didn't dare to hope. But strong arms wrapped around his neck, shoulders shaking as a damp face was pressed into the side of his head. Shiro's vision faded out of focus as he reached forward and latched onto the body in front of him.

_Keith. There. Solid._

"Don't do that again, Keith." Shiro begged into his shoulder. "Please, God."

"I won't. I won't." Keith promised, hot into his ear. "I won't, Shiro."

Shiro wasn't sure how long they stayed on the floor like that, clinging, shaking, crying. He was shocked no one had found them. But finally their legs had had enough of the hard metal floor. Keith pulled them up, always the stronger one. Shiro gripped at his hood, the only loose cloth available, afraid that if he let it go for even an instant Keith would slip away again. But Keith was there, his arms around Shiro's waist as he carefully kissed at his neck.

"I love you, too." Keith finally sniffed.

Shiro lowered his head so that their foreheads were pressed together. He could feel that old hesitancy rear its head, that this was a line that he couldn't cross, but he shoved it away and let himself kiss Keith gently on the lips. It was chaste and brief, but he didn't think either of them could handle more than that now.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like that," Shiro admitted with a wry, wet smile. He rested his forehead against Keith's again. "It was supposed to be soaked with happy tears, not near death experience tears."

"Would you have admitted it if this hadn't happened?" Keith asked him softly, looking up through his eyelashes.

Shiro looked away. He didn't even have an answer for himself. He felt more than heard Keith's sigh, soft against his skin.

"C'mon, let's go change before Lotor boards." Keith encouraged, stepping out of Shiro's space, but never letting go of him. "I can't believe we had our first kiss covered in sweat and snot."

Shiro let out a huff of laughter as he followed, almost desperately, in Keith's wake. He couldn't tell quite yet if things were fixed, or if they'd be okay, but at least he and Keith were finally back in each other's orbits.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'll write something happy. Eventually.....
> 
> but come cry with me about sheith on twitter pls. @inatrice is my fandom account. See u there!


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